German for me, though I would stick to the VW Passat if I have to buy my first German machine. The Mercs and BMWs I worship, but I would be too scared to drive them in India, even if I could afford them. :(

Welll, I've voted for a Jap. car - more specifically, the Honda/Acura brand. But somewho its a different feeling altogether driving a German car - the solid, robust build, the speed, the finish all give you this warm, fuzzy, and still racer-boy-wanna-burn-rubber sorta feeling. The jap cars look dinky and worthless in front of them, but they aren't. If it was sheer driving pleasure, it would have to be German. But what I like is the razor-sharp responses of Jap vehicles, and those fantastic engines.
Classic example: The Acura NSX. My Honda City/Civic 1.5. Toyota Supras.
I'd have them any day over a huge Beamer or a Rolls. Though not a Porsche. There's something in that name that has me hooked. But still, its the Jap cars that I like.

My one question is, what the f^*& happened to two very important areas: Italian (Ferrari, Lambo, Fiat, etc) and British (Aston Martin, McLaren, Jaguar, Rover, etc...)
..??!!!!!

While the Jap cars may be reliable, with powerful fuel efficient engines, I dont think anyone can match Europeans when it comes to developing and introducing cutting edge automobile technologies.

All the latest innovations come out typically from motorsports (F1 -traction control & WRC - All wheel drive) and from the luxury / performance marques of the world like Porsches, BMW, Merc etc

Take any motor sports, while it may be Japs which seem to be dominating, the operations are all based out of Europe in general and UK in particular. All the WRC outfits are based in Europe. Subaru in UK, Mitsubishi in Germany/ UK and Ford in UK. The rest are europeans - Citroen, Peugot, Skoda.
Take F1, Toyota is based out of Cologne and Honda is based out of Brackley UK. The rest are all Europeans.

Why? my guess would be access to talent pool and testing facilities.

Considering these I would definitely trust a european car any day. Since the only euro representative in the poll is germany, no points for guess where my vote went ;-)

Also, safety aspects are typically better in a german engineered car, since its designed for the european motorways (ok ok I mean the Autobahn, where there is no speed limit!!!)

coming home, Im not sure how a baleno or an accent would stack up against an Opel or a petra on safety...